The Precocious Painter
by Original Otaku o.O
Summary: We all know that Inklings gain full control of their human morphing abilities at the age of 14. We also know that mutations can happen in DNA. This can be a blessing or a curse, but certainly it makes someone special. Meet Nanami Avers, the Precocious Painter.
1. A Gift, Four Years Early

Walking out of the lobby, carrying her Luna Blaster, Celia Avers, a 14-year-old inkling, took her rotationly 1400 coin bonus before leaving Inkopolis Plaza.

"It had to be my least favorite stages today…" she mumbled to herself, stepping towards an empty seat in the Inkopolis Metropolis Train.

"Without Ethel, Orbee, and Hanz… I wouldn't have gotten this bonus at all." She continued to think as she watched the passing of trees out the window. For a while she stopped and took out something from her backpack.

"I wonder how Nanami is doing." The inkling wiped her finger along her hair, leaving a pink stain on her fingers. She places it in her mouth and writes something down on the object she took.

"I hope she'll like it..."

* * *

 **Chapter 1: A Gift, Four Years Early**

* * *

"Celia-nee-san!" from inside the house, a bubbly, high-pitched voice rang as Celia opened the door.

"Hey, Nanami!" Celia said as she picked up a mint green squid hiding in a mint green puddle. "How's my favorite little sister?"

"I'm doing great!" Filled with confidence, Nanami, the mint green squid, slipped off between the fingers of Celia's hand.

"Check this out, nee-san!" She said in excitement. She takes a deep breath and shortly after, she starts grunting, and started to morph into a human form. However, she couldn't completely turn into a human form, and she appeared like an inkling with mint green, melty skin and long droopy tentacles. Her body wasn't clear and neither was her face.

Within half a minute in this form, she slowly melts into a mint green puddle, hopping out as a squid again.

"Wow, 33 seconds!" Celia said, impressed at her sister's progress. "You're getting the hang of this!"

"Hehe, thanks!" Nanami said. "I wanna play turf wars with you one day…" she wondered as she played with the edges of her minty puddle.

"Yeah… well, I don't play Turf Wars that much…" Celia said. "Oh! That reminds me!" she put away her Luna Blaster and hurriedly took something out of her backpack. It was bag with the Ammo Knights logo printed on it.

"Go on, open it."

Celia picked the mint green squid up from the puddle, who formed fake arms using her tentacles. Upon opening the bag, Nanami let out a bubbly scream.

"Tada! It's your first Splattershot Jr.!" Celia announced. Nanami climbs on her new weapon as if hugging it like a squid. "See! Now we can play Turf Wars together right here at home!"

"Oh, nee-san! Thank you! Thank you soooo much, Celia-nee-san!" the very delighted Nanami said, climbing up Celia to try to give her a hug.

"Aww, you're welcome, Nanami!" Celia said. Taking the weapon from the ground, she flipped it over and revealed a pink signature. "Look at this, I learned a little trick from Hanz, and signed it with my own ink!"

Nanami shifts herself into her semi-humanoid form to give a small smile to Celia.

"I love you, Celia-nee-san." Nanami gives a light response as she gives Celia a full-on hug. "I'll treasure this for the four years to come."

"Now." The mint one said suddenly as she melts back into a squid. "Do you wanna play?"

Celia lost her smile and gave a sigh. "Oh, right… I'm sorry, Nanami. It's just that I'm a bit tired from that last rotation, playing three hours straight to earn my bonus. The stages were my least favorite ones and some of the teams we fought were really tough…"

"Oh…" Nanami gave a small frown as she took her new Jr. gun and crawled to her room. "I understand, nee-san… but we can play tomorrow, right?"

Celia gave another smile. "Sure. I'll see ya tomorrow!"

* * *

The night was as dark as Kelp Dome during a Splatfest. It has passed by very quickly without a problem. It was very peaceful and quiet, most especially in Celia's room, just like the top of Moray Towers.

Then suddenly a loud ringing interrupts the peace, making Celia jump out of her bed and falling on the floor. Grabbing the phone, she answered it in a grumpy voice.

"Ethel… it's midnight… please make this importa–"

"It's terrible, Celia! Hanz told me he got grounded for a month and he won't be able to play in Inkopolis with us any time soon!" a panicked voice came across the phone.

Hearing this, Celia immediately got up and sounded as if it was still in the middle of the day. "What? Why now!?"

The voice through the phone started to whimper and worry about it. "I don't know… Fish sticks… Without Hanz–"

"We don't have a full team…" Celia continued. "which means we're…"

They stayed silent for a while as a frown formed simultaneously on their faces, before saying at the same time…

"We're disqualified."

* * *

As soon as the peace was interrupted, Nanami meanwhile started grunting and moving around in her sleep.

"What's… happening…?" she muttered as she woke up from the pain. The grunting goes on until the rest of the night…

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

This is my first fanfic! Please enjoy!

All the characters were based on my four loadouts in Splatoon, and a few of my friends in real life and online!

Each chapter will come out on Thursday (GMT+3), but if I get a chance to use the computer out of Thursday and this fic grows popular enough, another chapter may be published ahead of time!

Shoutouts to boredguy108 and Reversion Primavera!

-o.O


	2. Welcome to the Team

"beep… beep… beep…" just like a stationary seeker.

The alarm clock goes off at 9:00. Celia furiously shoots it with her Luna Blaster, still irritated by the call last night.

"Hanz… what did you even do?" she mutters as she prepares her favorite eggs bened-inkt. "How am I supposed to support Nanami now?" she murmurs, taking out a cup and filling it with shrimp nuts.

"I mean, I do have 789462 coins… but it doesn't seem enough… It's gonna decrease over time."

Celia heads over to Nanami's room to give her breakfast.

"Nanami?" Celia knocked on the door.

"Yes, nee-san?" a voice came through the door. It sounded like Nanami's, but it wasn't bubbly. It was still convincing, though. Celia noticed this and places the cup of shrimp nuts down.

"Are you ok, Nanami?"

"Uh…" Nanami hesitated, or at least that's what it sounded like. "Of course, nee-san…"

Celia tried to open the door, but Nanami interrupted her with a loud "D-don't open the door!"

Celia grew suspicious. "You sure you're ok, Nanami?"

"Yes…" a hesitant yet strong response came from Nanami.

"Ok then… I'm just gonna put your **shrimp nuts** here, outside the door…" Celia says as she does so, hoping to lure her sister out. Then, the sound of footsteps came, but came to a sudden stop.

"O-okay, nee-san! I'll eat them later…"

"Okay… see ya!" Celia's unsure answer came through the door.

" _Weird… Nanami_ _ **always**_ _goes out of her room when she hears 'shrimp nuts'…"_ Celia worries as she steps on the train.

"Something squid-spicious is going on…"

* * *

Hopping out of the Central Spawn Point of Inkopolis Plaza, Celia was immediately confronted by another inkling.

"Celia! What are going to do!?" this particular inkling said, holding Celia by the shoulders. She is Celia's friend, Ethel Swumpy, a lime green inkling in the same team as hers.

"E-Ethel!" Celia said, pushing Ethel away from her shoulders. "Calm down." she slowly follows.

"I-I'm sorry… it's just… you know how we all need these 1400 coin bonuses… actually 4200 because we play for three rotations everyday… plus around 24500, dependi–"

"I get it Ethel!" Celia shouts, ignoring how loud she was." "I need it too…" Celia explains, fixing her custom-made Two-Striped Mesh.

"Yeah… you and Nana-chan…"

Celia freezes as she hears that nickname. "What… ' **Nana-chan** '!?" Celia exclaims shockingly.

"What!? It's a nickname! I've been calling her that since, like, forever!"

Celia continues walking towards the Booyah Base, particularly towards Shrimp Kicks. "Ok, whatever… I have a different issue to deal with right now."

"Bigger than being disqualified?" Ethel interrogated.

"Yes, bigger than being disqualified!"

"Really?"

"Yes! Look… uh… 'Nana-chan'," Celia sarcastically begins, "has been acting a bit suspicious today." she added.

"Hmm," Ethel thinks, rubbing her chin. "What do you think she's up to?"

"Maybe she's been doing bad things?" Celia wonders, when suddenly the door to Shrimp Kicks bursts open.

"Who cares." a masculine, yet young voice answers. A male, dark blue inkling steps out of Shrimp Kicks. He fixes his Pro Trail Boots and straightens his 18K Aviators. This is Orbee Gaws, a teammate of theirs, but not necessarily a friend since one incident a couple months ago.

"Uh, I do." Celia responds. Orbee hears this, and walks toward Celia.

"Celia…" He said sternly. "I thought you played for fun."

"Who said I did?"

"You! The fun of **excruciatingly splatting** noobs!"

"Well, of course I do!"

"Then quit suppo–" Celia puts his hand over his face to interrupt him.

"Nanami is my youn–" Orbee does the same.

"Oh, always Nanami, Nanami, Nanami. She's only ten! What're you gonna do? Let her be Hanz's replacement!?" he responds, angrily and loudly; so loud that like an Inkstrike it alerts many inklings around them. In rage, Celia grabbed his 18K Aviators off of his face, and snaps them in half. Orbee quickly hides his eyes. The two walk away in anger.

" _Orbee… why do you hate Nanami so much? Ever since I told you about her_ …"

* * *

" _and… done!_ "

Celia had just finished signing Yellow Seahorses, placing it in her backpack. Coincidentally, the train stops at the same time. Celia stepped off the train. Celia walks over towards her house and slowly opens the door.

"I'm ho–"

Before she could greet the home completely she finds it almost completely covered in mint green ink.

"What the Judd happened here!?" She exclaimed, stepping around the ink to avoid getting stuck. " _It's just as messy as Blackbelly Skatepark_ _ **out**_ _of a turf war!_ " she thinks madly. The place becomes messier and more ink can be spotted as she heads towards…

Nanami's room.

Why Nanami's room? From inside the room, mint green ink pours out through the door's bottom gap. Loud music by the Chirpy Chirps blares outside the door, as clear as Flounder Heights' apartments.

Celia knocked on the door but on answer come. She knocks louder but the music gets as loud as her. "Nanami?" Celia called. No answer came at all. So the only way to get attention was to open the door.

Immediately after opening, a shallow flood of mint green ink gushed outwards. Worried about her feet burning, Celia jumps and stays stuck in the ink. She'd rather get stuck than get splatted, anyway. Looking up, Celia saw something completely shocking in Nanami's room.

There was a completely self-controlled inkling in her room.

Her tentacles were shorter than most female inklings, yet longer than males'. They were tied up like twintails. She wore nothing but plain black shorts and a plain black shirt. Her eyes were yellow and her ink color was mint green, just like Nanami.

Before Celia could inspect her weapon laid down on Nanami's bed, this mysterious inkling noticed her. In fear the mystery girl grabbed a Splattershot Jr. as Celia grabbed her own Luna Blaster.

"P-p-please! D-don't s-splat meeee!" the mint one says.

"Tell me first. Who the Judd are you?" the pink one says.

"Eh… i-it's me, nee-san! I'm N-Nanami!"

"Hmph! As if! She's only ten! She can't control her human form yet!" Celia responds, sounding like Orbee.

Celia was about to pull the trigger of her weapon, when "Nanami"'s weapon caught her eye. On one side, she saw a pink signature inked on it. Celia came closer as the mint inkling tightened her grip on the gun. She scans it using her SplatStats device, which can tell the stats of any weapon. "Splats: 0" it read. Celia took one good look at the signature once more. She knew whose signature it was…

It was hers.

"…Na…Nanami…?" Celia hesitantly asked. "I-is that… you?"

"Y-yes…" the mint green inkling whimpered as she nods lightly.

It was Nanami.

"H-how did you–"

"I don't know! I just felt really, really painful last night…" Nanami says, before hesitating again. She always was shy even to her sister. "Did it also hurt when you, you know… gained control of your hum–"

"On the night before my 14th birthday, I felt excruciating pain." Celia interrupts, as she dramatically explains her story. "I thought I was ambushed by a group of rogue inklings, or worse, Octarians. But to my surprise, the only thing that happened was gaining control of my human form…" Celia daydreams for at least a second.

"How did you gain control so early?"

"I… don't know…"

"It's okay. We'll solve this sometime soon."

For a long time they talked about Celia's first days as a full-fledged inkling. They talked for a long time… until 9:00PM.

* * *

Nanami's early sense of control bugged Celia's sleep. Along with her fight with Orbee, it made sure she wouldn't stay in one position in her bed. As the long unsleepable night goes on, a disturbing quote echoes in her head.

" _Oh, always Nanami, Nanami, Nanami. She's only ten! What're you gonna do? Let her be Hanz's replacement!?_ "

Orbee's words crept into her mind. As it disturbs her throughout the night, an idea struck her like a Burst Bomb through a Splash Wall. She takes her phone out and calls Ethel. " _Come on, pick up…_ "

"Ugh. Celia… it's midnight. Make this important…" a tired voice replied through the phone.

"Payback, huh?" Celia smirks. "Anyway, I have the **perfect** replacement for Hanz."

"What? You do?" the concerned Ethel asks. "Who is it?"

"Well, it's…"

As Celia told Ethel the replacement's name, Ethel's shock can be heard clearly through the phone, like Shrimp Kicks' music in Ammo Knights.

"You're not serious…! How could she–"

"I'll explain it tomorrow. Spread the word to Orbee. Just… don't tell him that **she** is our replacement…" Celia hung up and rushed to Nanami's room.

"Nanami! Wake up! I've got news for you!" Celia impatiently said, banging on the door like the Rainmaker's shield. It's as if she doesn't remember that the time is 12:12AM. A few minutes later a cranky Nanami opened the door.

" **What!?** "

"Remember the promise yesterday in which we'll play Turf Wars together soon?"

"Yeah…?"

"Well…"

Celia came close to Nanami and whispered to her some news. Nanami's eyes widened as she heard it.

"Y-You're kidding, nee-san!"

"No, I'm not." Celia responded. Nanami couldn't catch her breath, probably because of the news, or the time, or both.

"So… I'm really…"

"Yes you are."

Celia takes out her Splattershot Jr. and another bag from Booyah Base.

"Nanami Avers… Welcome to the team."

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Welcome to the Team**

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Surprise! You're getting Chapter 2 early! A huge thunderstorm here in Kuwait (apparently) cancelled our classes and I found some perfect time to write this!

My chapters seem to be doubling their word count from their handwritten counterparts! And this chapter is like twice as long as Chapter 1... I even wrote down Chapter 3 and it's probably even longer.

Also I see KitKattattack…

Also guys please don't ship CeliaxOrbee yet. At least wait… (CELIAxNANAMI = UNKNOWN RESULT.)

If you ever wondered where their names came from:

Celia Avers – Special Saver, my loadout, in which all my main abilities in my gears are Special Savers.  
Ethel Swumpy – Stealth Swim+Jump, my brother's loadout and my secondary loadout, in which both Stealth Jump and Ninja Squid are the main abilities of her gear.  
Orbee Gaws – Boredom Swag, my friend boredguy108, in which Orbee comes from scrambling "bore", and his outfit is total SWAG!

See you next Thursday…

\- o.O


	3. Older and Superior

A screech is heard directly outside the south wall of the Inkopolis Plaza.

"Ugh… I felt like I rode a Killer Wail that doesn't kill…" Celia complained.

"Uuu… my first train ride… so uncomfortable…" Nanami pouted. Shortly after, a soft, smooth ditty rings inside the train.

"A quick reminder: The Inkopolis Metropolis will undergo maintenance from 8:45PM to 4AM of tomorrow. Thank you for your understanding; Have a splatacular day in Inkopolis!"

After the conductor's announcement, the train left, still annoying the passengers – in and out of the train. The two sisters continued walking.

"I wonder if Ethel-nee will like this new me!" Nanami wondered out loud, twirling herself on her path with Celia, as if showing off her new clothes to the other inklings.

" _Even Nanami has a nickname for Ethel…_ " Celia thought awkwardly. "You and Ethel will get along!" she told Nanami out loud.

"I heard you have a sniper named… what's his name? Ballie?"

"Oh, you mean Orbee…" Celia said, remembering the fight from the day before. "Forget him. He's my teammate but he's certainly not gonna want to get along with you…"

"Hmm…" Nanami hummed, feeling scared from just the description of Orbee towards herself. "Well…" Nanami shrugged. "I can forget about him for a while."

"Good." Celia said quite sternly yet still kindly.

"Now, how do I enter the Plaza?" Nanami exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Oh, easy." Celia walks over to a certain sewer directly outside the south wall. In it was a flood of mint green ink. "Just turn yourself into a squid and swim through this sewer! I won't be in that sewer though, because I'm pink."

"I-is it scary there?"

"Not at all!" Celia winked. "I'll meet you inside the plaza, okay?" she continued, walking away from the mint sewer towards the pink sewer.

"O-okay, nee-san!"

Nanami turned herself into a squid, and hopped onto the sewer. Her semi-flaccid body slips through the tiny holes of the sewer, and into a long stream of mint green ink. She follows the current of the stream. Her squid night vision kicks in inside the sewer and sees a bunch of eyes peeking out the ink. Not long after, she shot out the Central Spawn Point and lands next to Celia, waiting below the Battle Dojo bridge. The mint-green ink blurred Nanami's vision, causing her to wipe it off. As it clears, her eyes were filled again with wonder, seeing the beauty of Inkopolis Plaza in its entirety.

Celia patted Nanami's head. "Welcome to Inkopolis."

* * *

After six minutes of waiting under the bridge, two inklings walked out of the Battle Dojo. They were Ethel and Orbee.

"O-Orbee…" Ethel muttered softly. "S-stop taking battles so seriously… even at the **Battle Dojo** you're as tough as ever!"

"Hmph. Get good." Orbee grumpily and laconically responded.

"Ethel-nee!" a high-pitched voice screeched from below the bridge, interrupting the short argument and catching Ethel's attention.

"Nana-chan?" Ethel wondered, looking around herself like a jellyfish lost in Urchin Underpass. Orbee, knowing his own hatred towards Nanami, shoved Ethel a few inches.

"Ethel-nee! I'm here!" Nanami's high-pitched voice called. She was literally beside Ethel right now.

"N-nana-chan!" she replied, shoving Orbee who nearly gave her another shove. "I can't find you!"

Celia, who was still below the bridge, started giggling as she hears the immense awkwardness between the three. Ethel jumped down the bridge to root the trashcans of the back alley. Spyke just stared at Ethel, and shrugged a few moments later. Celia started to laugh harder.

"Ethel-nee!" Nanami called out again, sounding a bit annoyed and tired considering Ethel's incredible stupidity. "I'm up here!"

The still puzzled Ethel looked back up and saw Nanami, who waved at her. "Where? All I see is Orbee and some other mint green inkling with short tentacles!" Seriously. Ethel said that.

Upon hearing this, Celia gave a laugh so loud it was as if she was being Echolocated. Ethel went towards her in slight rage.

"This isn't funny, Celia!" she said, growing mad at Nanami being hidden in literal plain sight. "Where's your little sister hiding?"

"Maybe she's an inkling now. Maybe even Hanz's replacement?" Orbee smirked as he walked down the stairs of the bridge. Celia smirks back as he grins, straightening his newly fixed 18K Aviators.

Nanami then sneaks up behind Ethel in squid form, and returns to her humanoid form. "Ethel-nee…" she called once more, and tapped on her shoulder.

"Nanami. Please just **show up**! I'm tired of looking for you!" Ethel then turns around, and does eye contact. She looked at Nanami for a few moments.

"Uh… excuse me, but could you please stop following me? Or at least help me find some ten-year-old squid, same as your color."

Seriously. She said that. In front of Nanami. And Celia, who burst out with laughter. "Oh my Judd… I can't even… hahaha…" she muttered, catching her breath, and being flicked on the ear by Orbee.

Within a few seconds, Orbee stopped flicking her ear. A visible mixed expression of rage, shock, and confusion hit his face. "That inkling…" he whispers loudly. "she can't **possibly** be…" he growled under his fury.

Ethel saw Orbee's face, then an idea also struck hers. "Wait…" she turns her face to Nanami. "This… this is a dream…" she says as if she was frightened by lightning, pushing her index and middle fingers towards her other palm.

Holding so much rage, Orbee gave a powerful punch to Celia in the ink sac. Celia started to cough up pink liquid from her mouth. After recovering, Celia relinquished and explained the act to the two.

"This inkling…" she says, walking towards Nanami and holding her shoulder. "is Nanami herself." She continues. "She gained full control of her humanoid shifting powers two nights ago." She proclaimed.

"She's gonna be Hanz's replacement. It's all thanks to **Orbee's big mou** –" a seemingly ironic slap in the mouth was given. The look on Orbee's face gave the very obvious feeling to everyone that he was filled with rage, about to explode any second like a Suction Bomb.

" _Orbee…_ "

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Older and Superior**

* * *

Two hours passed since the trouble.

"I still can't trust you with Nanami."

"Relax…" Orbee said, placing his hand over Nanami's shoulder. An uncomfortable feeling struck both of them. "W-we can get along **juuuuust** fine."

"Okay then. Behave, Nanami." Celia said.

"Bye, nee-san!" she called out, waving goodbye to Celia and Ethel who walked inside the Battle Dojo. "So… Orbee-kun. W–"

"' **O-orbee-kun!?** ' Wh…" Orbee shouted. He became very uncomfortable with this nickname. "Ugh, whatever… what were you gonna say?"

"What will we do first?" Nanami said in a tone very different from her usually active extrovert voice; she talked like an introvert instead.

"Well…" Orbee wondered when an idea struck him. "I'm gonna train you for Turf Wars. Your level is too low for Ranked Battles." He suggested. The two walked over to Ammo Knights.

"Hello, hello! What kind of weapon are you in the market for?" Sheldon said, coming out of his shell behind the counter, taking Nanami by surprise. "Oh, if it isn't Orbee from the Invisible Ink Team! What do you need today?"

"I don't wanna buy something, but I came to test weapons again and train this little noob." He faces towards Nanami, who gets slightly shocked and turns to Sheldon.

"N-nice to meet you… you must be Mr. Sheld–"

"Ooh, sorry little girl, but I'm not sure you could handle my firepower at lowly Level 1. No, I simply can't let you adopt any of my beautiful children until Level 2... at the very least! Go raise your level in some regular battles, and then come see me again, yes?" Sheldon responded lengthily and quickly. Nanami looked puzzled.

"But I–"

"No, it's okay, Sheldon." Orbee said. "We're just training anyway."

"Oh, if that's the case, then why don't knock yourselves out? The testing area is just out this door." Sheldon shows the two the Testing Chamber.

"Th-thank you Mr. Sheldon Sir!" Nanami said.

The two walk through the door and arrive at an enclosed space with three dummies, and a stairway that leads to a chamber with eight more.

"So, if you wanna get good at Turf Wa–" before Orbee could even finish, Nanami let out a scream as she fired a huge spray of mint ink from her Jr.. Its recoil threw her aim off guard and within seconds the ink bullets managed to shoot behind her. Orbee did come from Celia's team and thus he evaded nearly all of them.

That was when an evil idea struck his head. " _If Nanami's this bad, she could get kicked out of Invisible Ink by me, Judd, or even her 'Celia-nee-san'!_ " he thought.

"Sorry, Orbee-kun…" she said feeling ashamed, yet somehow relieved. Orbee felt uncomfortable at that nickname again."

"Okay. If you wanna be part of Invisible Ink, which is, ahem, **my** team in terms of skill, you have to follow **my** rules." Orbee proclaimed, walking around in front of the farthest dummy in the first chamber.

"First. Stay behind me at **all times**.  
"Second, don't super jump to me.  
"Lastly, don't ever, **ever** call me by that **stupid nickname**."

Nanami shot another spray of ink without warning after Orbee's "pep talk". Within ten seconds all the dummies in the first chamber were splatted, and Orbee happened to have a burnt arm from the mint ink.

"AGH!" Orbee screamed, wiping off the mint ink from his arm. He quickly grabbed his Kelp Splatterscope from his backpack, shot at the ground and swam at the newly formed dark blue ink as a squid to recover his arm. He came out a few seconds later.

"Ok… fourth." Orbee continued, as if an E-Liter 3K Scope barely missed him. "If you're gonna shoot, do it far away from me…"

Nanami immediately followed up with another series of shots, keeping her arms steady as she fires her Jr.. Around three of the twenty shots hit the dummy before splatting it.

"I-is my aim getting better Orbee-ku–"

"I'm sorry, who?" Orbee said, irritated.

"Uh… Orbee…?" Nanami followed in fear.

"A tiny bit. Seriously. So tiny a 6900x magnification setting on a microscope couldn't see it." He followed with sardonicism. "It could be better though."

Orbee then keeps his Kelp Splatterscope in his backpack, and takes out another weapon. It was an old, worn-out Splattershot Jr. "After all, I **am** the best sniper."

While facing Nanami, he held his arm out, aiming at the dummy behind him and splatted it in a New York second. All three shots hit it and his arm was as steady as Bluefin Depot 84 years ago.

"Next is your swimming test…" Orbee grabs Nanami's Jr. and inks the first and second chambers unthoroughly. "How fast can you swim a lap arou–"

Before he could even finish, the once again overconfident Nanami swam the uneven puddles of mint green ink around the Testing Area. She finished the lap in nearly half a minute.

"I was an athletic squid." Nanami bragged. "Can I go back to nee-san and Ethel-nee now…?"

"Ugh… fine…" Orbee responded. " _She couldn't be disqualified… she looks really good even as a ten-year-old annoying hunk of junk… Maybe it's time for Plan B… Plan BD. Bluefin Depot._ "

* * *

"Where are they? They've been training for three hours… I think…"

"Yeah, it's 8:30. Train maintenance is gonna leave us having to **walk** home." Celia leaned on the wall, daydreaming about kicking the butts of the Vivid Squids, their rival team. She grew impatient. That was when something clicked inside her mind.

"Oh… no."

"What?"

"Oh… no. No, no, no. NO NO NO!" Celia started to panic. Without warning she grabbed Ethel and her Luna Blaster and tightened her ink tank.

"Nanami is in danger!" she shouted, running out of the back alley towards the Booyah Base. "I never should've trusted Orbee…"

"Hey, C-Celia! Calm down! I-I'm sure that Or–"

"Have you not met this new Orbee!? Ever since…" her loud ranting slowly became softer. "…that Autobots vs Decepticons Splatfest…" Celia came to a stop for a while. Flashbacks of happy faces of her and Orbee together showed up in her mind. " _Forget that, Celia…_ " she thought. She continued running and barged into Ammo Knights like a Carbon Roller bumping into a squid in the ink. This surprised Sheldon so much he messed up his H-3 Nozzlenose D modifications and hid in his own shell. A few moments later his eyes peeked out to see Celia and Ethel.

"Oh, Celia, my girl!" Sheldon said, trying to hide the fear in his face. "What in the Shell Hell has gotten into yo–"

"Have you seen a dark blue inkling and a mint inkling enter the training area!?"

"Why, of course I have!" Sheldon popped out of his shell. "Orbee and your sister, right? They left a few minues ago." A bolt of fear struck Celia as she heard that story.

"Where… Wh-where did they go!?" Celia shouted, slamming on the counter to get a quick response.

"Orbee said they were going to Bluefin Depot. Pretty shellptical?" the mollusk explained, fixing his shellmet and picking up the H-3 Nozzlenose D to continue his work.

"It didn't even show up in any of today's rotations…" Celia muttered softly, yet angrily. She couldn't help but shed a tear like a squid through the gratings of Hammerhead Bridge. Without a word, but full of sobs and whimpers, the devastated inklings dashed out to find Nanami.

* * *

"Bluefin Depot, huh? Celia-nee-san said this was her favorite map…" Nanami said, peering through the bottom of the grated bridge to the bottom and left of the mint green spawn.

Invisible to her, a prediction line pointed at the curious inkling.

"I'm sure it is her favorite…" Orbee muttered quietly. "I wonder… how blue can Bluefin Depot get?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

This is so late Dx I had a fever and I wasn't allowed to touch the PC.

By the way sorry if this chapter seems rushed. Also Chapter 4 might suck xD

Shoutouts to Reversion Primavera who still didn't read Chapter 4 of Secrets of the Inklings, my favorite fanfic. I guess that's a shoutout to KitkattAttack too.

Invisible Ink. Deal with it.

\- o.O


	4. (In)Valid Reasons

Celia dragged Ethel, herself, and her own tears toward the train.

"Sir!" Celia shouted in a hoarse voice whilst breathing heavily. "Takes us to Bluefin Depot! Now!"

"I'm sorry," the conductor replied. "The Inkopolis Metropolis is undergoing maintenance. We started early because not much people were playing the 5PM rotation today."

"But–"

"Luckily for you, Bluefin Depot isn't far from Inkopolis Plaza… If you can run across 3 blocks this direction…" The conductor then points down one street. "You may arrive in Bluefin Depot within ten minutes."

Without warning, Celia takes Ethel and takes off.

" _Nanami… please be safe…_ "

* * *

Orbee perfected his aim upon Nanami. Before he could pull the trigger though, Nanami says something that catches Orbee's attention.

"You know, Orbee–… You were a great mentor. I know you hated me, and I hated you too… But you taught me well… you're like the big brother I never had… and I'm your little sister."

Orbee lost it at "little sister". Hearing that one word made him flash back to the times with his "family". In his thoughts he saw a yellow squid… one he never saw in a long time. The delicate voice calling him " _onii-chan_ " started to haunt him. Within seconds, he fired a shot from his Kelp Splatterscope, missing Nanami very slightly to the right. Nanami saw this shot right in front of her. Nanami very slowly looked up at Orbee.

"O-O-Orbee… d-d-did y-you f-f-f–"

A very disturbing face was on Orbee's head. He then pointed his Kelp Splatterscope directly at Nanami's face.

"If I'm a good teacher…" Orbee muttered without mercy. "Here's your final test… **Nanami Avers**."

Nanami was petrified. She couldn't move. She was filled with fear as Orbee pointed the charger filled with a dark aura, as dark as Orbee's, pointed at her. She didn't want to move. She knew her life was over either way...

" _Promise…_ "

"Agh!" Orbee gave out a scream, seemingly in pain, as he fires his Kelp Splatterscope slightly away from Nanami again, but still barely slicing through her left ear. Orbee found himself covered in a thin layer of lime green ink.

Lime green ink… Ethel?

The two inklings stranded on Bluefin Depot gazed up. They saw a trail of green and pink colors in the sky. And within the blink of an eye, Celia and Ethel landed near the mint green spawn point.

"N-n-nee-s-san…"

"Nanami! Y-you're ok…" Celia wanted to cry again. She ran towards Nanami to hug her, when Orbee placed a Splash Wall right in front of Celia. Celia took minor damage, but her face was covered in ink, minor scorches, and tears. She looked at Orbee, who had an evil grin on his face, and took out her Luna Blaster. She points it at him.

"What is wrong with you!?" she screams, ignoring her nearly hoarse voice already hurting her throat along with the dark blue ink on it.

"Why, absolutely nothing…"

"Then why would you want so splat Nanami… she's my sister!"

"Heh, so? She may be ten, and she did somehow gain humanoid control at that age, but do you think she's even experienced?"

"That's why I trusted you. To train her to be **experienced**. But I was wrong… What possible reason can you find in the entire Calamari Country to explain the need to splat a newbie related to your friend!?"

Celia's voice got so hoarse that she couldn't scream clearly anymore. She was being a salty squid – like how she always was whenever she gets a losing streak. Ethel and Nanami just watched the drama unfold, comforting each other in a hug.

"Just…" Celia whispered. "Let Nanami go. Take me instead…"

Orbee saw the sadness in Celia's eyes. Nanami was her sister… Orbee always wanted to get rid of Nanami. Then his memories started returning. He snapped out of it and decided to go all-out ruthless. Orbee walked towards Ethel and tried to take her grip off Nanami.

"You're so dead."

"Nee-san! **Help!** "

" **Nanami!** " Celia shoved Orbee. That was the wrong choice. Orbee successfully took Nanami in his hands. "Orbee! **Let go!** " Orbee wouldn't listen. Celia was infuriated and pushed Orbee near the edge of the bridge near spawn. Orbee nearly fell. Once again, Celia made the wrong choice. She realized that as she saw Orbee's evil grin.

Orbee let go of Nanami.

Nanami fell into the cold, sandy, rusty, salty water of Bluefin Depot.

" **NANAMIIIIIIIIIII–!** "

" **NEEEE-SAAAAAAAAAN!** "

* * *

 **Chapter 4: (In)Valid Reasons**

* * *

The clocks all over Calamari Country struck 9PM. Late-night Turf War and Ranked Battle players who stay in Inkopolis Plaza at such a late time were kicked out of their games once finished, to hear the announcement of the new stage rotations. They all turned their eyes toward the giant TV screen by the east building, next to the Battle Dojo. It shifted from a Tentatek commercial to everyone's favorite voices–

"Hold on to your tentacles…"

"It's Inkopolis News time!"

It's the Squid Sisters. They're literally every inkling's favorite idols.

"Before we reveal tonight's 9PM rotations…" Callie, the inkling standing on the left with dark long hair and pink tips and a huge smile on her face announced.

"We've got a new feature to show you all!" Marie, the inkling on the right with short, gray hair and a soft, serious tone announced.

"We've been working on the stage announcements."

"Rather than just still images, like before…" the screen behind the two changes to a rather still image of Kelp Dome.

"We've placed live cameras in the stages to show a more in-depth view of the map." As Callie says this, the still image starts to move.

"I guess this is helpful for those who haven't seen the map before."

The news carried on pretty normally. The Turf Wars rotation and the Ranked Battle: Splat Zones rotation were given, because there wasn't any other news aside from that.

"Hey, Callie." Marie said, looking quite puzzled. "Is it just the late night, or are there inklings loitering around Bluefin Depot?"

"What?" Callie replied, just as shocked as Marie. "Lemme see that."

The stage camera pans towards a mint-green spawn. Near it was three inklings. There was one male, and two females. One pink inkling seemed to be reaching out for something below the bridge.

"This is odd."

"It's too late for us to check what's going on…"

"Callie, you're just trying to make an excuse so you can sleep again, aren't you."

"Duh! We always have to wake up even at 1AM!" Callie said, sighing. She noticed that they were still on air. "Oh well… Until next time…"

The two then stand on one foot, putting their hands out, one higher than the other; this was their signature pose, before their signature phrase–

"Staaaaay fresh~!"

The news program ends, and the TV switches back to a Squid Squad album promotion commercial. The inklings carried on with their late-night battles.

* * *

Celia was obliterated on the inside. Her own teammate just killed her little sister.

"What… reason… can you give… to kill… her…"

"She was a barrier that stood between the two of us." Orbee said, still bearing his seemingly evil grin.

"Now." He said, dropping his Kelp Splatterscope on the hard rusty ground.

"Are we good?"

That response made Celia furious. "Y-you're a crazy squid." She muttered angrily. She takes out her Luna Blaster again. "You kill my sister. And you think we can be friends again…"

"Celia…" Ethel said, wiping her own, salty tears. "Please calm down…"

"Calm… down!? My sister is **dead** , **dead** for Judd's sake! And you just want me to **calm down**!? Sure, let's just splat Callie and Marie too and no one will care! How about **that** , huh!?"

Celia's shouting covered all the noise in the map. Ethel was the only one who heard a rippling noise from the mint green spawn.

"But Celia–"

"Shut your squidbeak up! Do you wanna get splatted too!?"

Celia's threat just silenced Ethel. She wouldn't dare speak another word. Celia looked really serious about splatting. The only time she's ever this serious is when she's been on a salty losing streak.

"Now leave me alone." Celia muttered. I've got something to take care of." She turns to Orbee.

"Ch-chill, C-Celia…" he said in fear, an expression never really seen in this usually serious, arrogant inkling.

"Like Challenger's Deep Hell I'd chill." Celia muttered one more time, sounding just as merciless as Orbee. Ethel and Orbee were frozen stiff. Celia nearly pulled the trigger when suddenly–

" **ENOOOOOOOOOUGH!** " – a voice cried out from the mint green spawn point.

It was Nanami.

"What reason do **you** have to splat him!?" Nanami shouted in anger, but also in slight mockery.

"I tried to say she respawned." Ethel said also in mockery.

"Why so dramatic?" Nanami said. The mood in the map dies down to its original aura. The place was covered in awkward silence for a few seconds.

"I-I'ts nine…" Celia said, catching her breath. The tone of her voice tells her she isn't mad anymore. "a-and Bluefin Depot's in the rota…tion…" she continued. She was trying to hide her laughter, but in seconds she burst out. Ethel and Nanami joined the laughter. It was just like a cliché in modern shows. Then the laughter was interrupted when Orbee gave another punch to Celia in the ink sac.

"What is wrong with…" Celia started to cough out pink ink. The map returned to its dark and dramatic state from a few minutes back.

"I've tried to get rid of my rival, then this happens…" Orbee responds, as tears can be seen flowing down his face through the 18K Aviators.

"Orbee-kun is crying…?" Nanami said to herself quietly.

"Wait, rival? Wha…" Celia looked at Nanami for a few seconds before facing Orbee again. "Nanami is your–"

"I just think it's **unfair** that she likes you more!" ORbee blurted out all of a sudden. "Especially when it's your little sister! You know, ever since I've set my eyes on you for the first time, I've lost my heart. But in a good way. And you didn't even bother to return it…" he continued.

Celia just figured what was going on with Orbee. "Orbee…? You–"

"Just go away! Keep my heart! I'll just be another loser for the rest of my Ranked Battle career!" He dashed into the recon gates, slipped out of the map and left nothing behind…

…or not?

Celia found something on the floor and took it home.

* * *

A small snowglobe, with ancient English written on its base. Celia was always a clever girl, knowing up to three different ancient dialects. Orbee however, just knows ancient English. He wrote the snowglobe himself anyway…

"A symbol of my unseen love.  
"A crypt only our shared intelligence could solve.  
"An E in an orb, covered in gauze.  
"It sits on a chair, held by a dove."

Those last two lines describe what was inside the snowglobe. Celia figured it all out… Why was Orbee so bitter towards her?

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

This seemed pretty rushed. I warned you that this would've sucked!

Don't worry, this story is based around Nanami. I just wanted to experiment multi-arc stories.

Also GigaSquid I tried not to make similes here, so be happy?

\- o.O


	5. Crushed with Rage, or Love?

_Fireworks.  
Music.  
The sweet sound of splatting._

 _It was the 29_ _th_ _of August, 14115. The sweet tune of the Squid Sisters'_ Inkopolis Sinker _rang throughout the plaza on this night. My team was in a bit of a lead…_

 _This was the fourth Splatfest – Autobots vs Decepticons._

 _It was pretty nice when I heard about it. The Decepticons' color was the only reason I joined it. If anything could've made this night better – it would be Celia…_

" _Hey! Orbee!"_

 _That voice…_

 _I looked behind me and saw a pink inkling in her Red Autobots Splatfest Tee. Her red Squidvader Cap and Red Sea Slugs, along with her contrasting aqua blue eyes made me blush right beneath my 18K Aviators._

" _Hey, Celia." I respond, looking at her young, cute face._

"… _Team Decepticons?" she said with a tiny bit of surprise, noticing how my usually dark blue tentacles were colored dark purple, matching my Purple Decepticons Splatfest Tee._

" _What? They've got a_ _ **sweet**_ _shade of purple!"_

" _Keep telling yourself that. My red tee looks way cooler."_

 _She was always good at making decisions. Now I'm jealous of her tee. The problem was she was pretty salty and… she always lost the Splatfests after this one (except Arts vs Science…)_

" _Anyway… wanna try a match with me?"_

 _Celia looks at me with her usual gameface. It always gave me chills… "Sure." She followed in a somewhat dark, serious tone._

 _We played for hours. As the Squid Sisters sang_ Kimi Iro ni Somete _, our favorite Squid Sisters' song, we had some pretty intense fights. Celia was pretty quick with the Carbon Roller, her former favorite weapon. She knocks me back with those Burst Bombs, before swiftly swinging that light, yet deadly roller upon me and my team. She wasn't the only good one though. My aim with the Stock Splatterscope can take care of her from a far, especially in Saltspray Rig. This was a feeling I never truly before. I actually had… "fun"._

" _Ok…" Celia said wiping the sweat beneath her tentacles. "We've been playing for hours… Come on, let's sit together for a while."_

 _I started to blush furiously. It's like my face joined the Autobots Team… I don't believe it, she wants to sit close to me. I know she likes super jumping to me a lot – but during a Splatfest? Watching the beautiful pink and dark purple fireworks go_ BOOM _, lighting the dark Saturday night? "Oh heck yeah I will…"_

" _Hm?"_

… _I just said that out loud, didn't I. "Oh, uh, I mean… I'd love to sit with you." Why am I saying such crazy things right now?_

" _Ufu~" Sh-she's giggling at me. I thought my face can't get any redder! "Come now…"_

 _The two of us sat on the bench by the South Wall. We watched those beautiful nightlights flash in our teams' logos. This seems too much for me to handle… Should I confess…?_

" _Celia…?" she turned to me with a delicate smile atop her face. "Do you like, like someone?"_

 _I watched the expression on her face as she thinks about it. She didn't answer for a minute. I could see her mouthing some words… she must be thinking in Ancient Tagalog to surprise me? I never learned that language…_

 _Then she hit me with this answer – "I have a_ _little sister."_

 _She…_

" _She's so kawaii~ Her yellow eyes seem perfect on her mint green squid body. Her name is Nanami. She…" Celia stopped talking when she looked at my face._

 _Thoughts of my "family" started resurfacing. I tried to forget about her. I hate her. I hate those words._

" _Something wrong… Orbee?"_

 _I was crying. Without warning, I take off…_

* * *

A memory that has seemingly changed Orbee forever. Ever since Celia said that, she seemed to be more distant from Orbee. But still, Orbee loves Celia, and wanted absolutely no "little sister" brought up again.

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Crushed with Rage, or Love?**

* * *

It's 9AM. The alarm clock rang in Celia's room. She hit the snooze button, not wanting to get up. All she did last night was think of Orbee. Within a minute, she fell back asleep.

All of a sudden, a huge burning sensation came upon her body, followed by a loud voice shouting out–  
" **WAKE UP, NEE-SAN!** "

Celia immediately woke up with an earsplitting scream. She got up and found her body covered in mint green ink.

"Next time, keep your sloshers safe, nee-san~" Nanami said, putting away the slosher which was filled with mint green ink.

"You seem awfully energetic today…" Celia said, shooting the floor with her Luna Blaster and hopping into it as a squid. After a few seconds she hopped out as her humanoid self. "Weren't you bothered by… **last night**?" She continued, as she shudders and gives a sigh filled with sorrow.

"Oh come on, nee-san." Nanami nonchalantly said. "You should talk to Orbee-kun later~" She takes the snowglobe from Celia's desk and handed it to her. She then formed a ring with her fingers to try to get her sisterly handshake. "SLSL?"

Celia calmly accepts the snowglobe and also forms a ring with her fingers. "SLSL."

* * *

The train stopped much more smoothly today. A rather pleasant silence came from the train as it halted. Celia got off the train with a somewhat relaxed face.

She didn't stop at Inkopolis Plaza, this time. She got off at JINCS, the Jellyfish and Inklings' New Calamrian School, where she studied before turning 14 last July 25. It's been a long time since she played basketball in her own private court next to school. Celia used to be a fan of basketball. She used to want to be a member of the Calamari Calamaris, their national basketball team. When she turned 14, she wanted to buy the Home B-Ball Jersey, but had to wait until Level 7. She never switched out of it in her loadout, aside from Splatfests. Even today she wears it, only having it reprinted with a Special Saver logo and her last name written in blue Inkling text. Even if she interest in basketball today, she could still recall how to play it.

Upon arriving in her private basketball court, she saw someone already playing in the other side of the quadrangle. He was very bad at it though, but he wanted to practice, almost nonstop. He wore an Away B-Ball Jersey and Green Trainers, while a B-Ball Headband was adorned on her head below his dark blue tentacle ponytail. On a nearby bench were some 18K Aviators, Pro Trail Boots, and a backpack with a Dark Urban Vest in it.

Wait a second.

The dark blue inkling gave a throw so strong it bounced very far from where he was standing. With the aid of her quick reflexes, Celia caught it from where she was. She sprints quickly while doing a really quick dribble, and throws it just before entering the three-point line.

"Score."

"Nice shot…" the dark blue inkling said with mixed feelings.

"Orbee…" Celia said, walking towards her backpack to take something from it. "Next time…" She took the snowglobe out. Orbee gasped and started to blush. "Don't be so tsundere~"

"Celia, look." Orbee suddenly muttered. "I never wanted you to find out why Nanami was such a huge deal to me, k? I just acted like this because 'little sisters' make me lose my mind, a-and I didn't me – a serious, professional sniper – to lose my 'strong', 'badass' image, and lastly – How was I being 'tsundere'?"

Orbee blurted those words so quickly. Thankfully, Celia was a clever enough to process all of his words. She just… didn't know what to say. No… she didn't even want to know.

"Celia…" Orbee mumbled much more slowly. He took the snowglobe from Celia's hands. "Did you figure my crypt ou–"

"Yeah, I did…" Celia mumbled in response. "What if I told you… I… liked you too?"

Orbee started to smile. Not an evil smile like he always shows ever since **that incident**. A smile with true joy. It was always hard to tell in Inkopolis Plaza, since his 18K Aviators covered up his eyes…

His eyes…

"Your eyes…" Celia whispered to herself for a while. Her somewhat nonchalant, sentimental smile turned into a smile hiding laughter. "Your eyes… haha…" Celia then suddenly burst out with laughter. Orbee turned as red as salmon.

His eyes were pink in color. "D-deal with it!"

"Hahaha, now I see what you mean by 'protecting your badass ima–"

"Q-quit it!" Orbee retorted, quite embarrassed.

It was like old times again. The two reconciled and, after a few games of somewhat one-sided basketball, they left the school and boarded the train.

* * *

"Come on, come on! Let's go, nee-san! Orbee!"

Nanami hurriedly left the train and hopped into the mint sewers. Among the passengers getting off the train were Celia and Orbee. They were holding hands now.

"Hehe, slow down, Nanami!" Orbee said, quite playfully.

"Orbee," Celia said, tapping on his shoulder. "Why isn't Nanami calling you 'Orbee-kun'?"

"Uh…"

" _Lastly, don't ever,_ _ **ever**_ _call me by that_ _ **stupid nickname**_ _._ " Those words from yesterday when he was "training" Nanami came up. Before he wanted to answer, he hopped into the dark blue sewer. Celia shrugs that shameless reaction off and hops into her pink sewer. Within half a minute, the three of them shot out of the Central Spawn Point.

"Hey…" Nanami wondered. "Where's Ethel-nee?"

"I'm here!" a voice called out as the door of Cooler Heads suddenly bursts open. Ethel came out holding an Ammo Knights bag and ran towards the three inklings.

"You look… different." Celia said as she noticed Ethel's new look. Rather than the usual Bobble Hat, she wore a Squid Nordic on her head. "Splash Goggles on your Bobble Hat? That's against the rules! You can't wear two headgear at once, Ethel!" she retorted.

"What? This is just **one** piece of headgear! Didn't you hear? Soooooo much new stuff appeared out of nowhere today~! Look at this!" Ethel replied in a childish, cheery, playful voice, and showed Celia the brand new Bamboozler 14 Mk II. After a tiny while, she noticed that Celia and Orbee were (still) holding hands.

"Why are you two ho–"

"Ehehe, it's a long story, E–"

"No it's not." Celia replied. "Anyway… new stuff? Like what?"

Before Ethel could answer, a large bell rang throughout the entire plaza.

" **IT'S 1PM!** " Ethel exclaimed.

"I-I don't get it. What's happening." Orbee said in confusion.

"Yooooou'll see~" Ethel responded. "I'm so hyyyyyyyyyyped~"

After everyone was kicked out of their games, the giant TV in the plaza switched from 14115's Zapfish Day commercial to the famous news show we all know and love–

"Hold on to your tentacles…"

"It's Inkopolis News Time!"

Immediately after the two spoke, most inklings at the bottom of the plaza started cheering. Celia, Nanami, and Orbee didn't understand what the hype was about.

"We've got some update information to share!"

"I love updates!"

"The stage rotation has been expanded!"

The screen behind them showed a live view of the new stage: Museum d'Alfonsino. There was a huge number of paintings and sculptures – and **five** rotating splatforms. This got everyone hyped. Even Celia.

As usual, the stage rotation has the new stage in both modes. And as the stages were finished being announced, the oh so familiar "Staaaaay fresh~!" sounded and everyone rushed into the lobby, along with Ethel.

"It's time for your first Turf War, Nanami… Are you ready?"

Nanami twirled her Splattershot Jr. around.

"Let's do this, nee-san."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

It's here.  
Celia x Orbee is now allowed.  
Nanami is having her first Turf War.  
No lemons yet.

No offense, boredguy108!

What else do I put here…

Oh, right. Do you like the tilde I added? I tried to use a bit more animu- I mean... anime terms, but I feel I went overboard. I hope you still enjoy this fic!

SLSL~

\- o.O


	6. My First Turf War

"What do you mean Museum d'Alfansino's queue is full!?"

Celia and Ethel have had a really long argument with Judd, asking questions like "Can't we just recon?" or "Can't we just have a one-minute turf war?"

Meanwhile, Orbee and Nanami sat quietly in one side of the lobby – and weren't really talking to each other. At least, before Orbee decided to talk to Nanami about something, in a somewhat serious tone.

"Nanami…" he called. "You're still new at Turf Wars… So try to follow–"

"Right… the rules." Nanami interrupted. Orbee stays silent again, flashing back to what he said yesterday. They were supposed to sabotage Nanami's skill, but he thought about it more.

"…just try to stick to them for a while. I don't know if you're ready to do Official Turf Wars by yourself."

"' _Official Turf Wars'…_ Okay… Orbee." Nanami said quietly to Orbee. The silence returned between the two. " _Do I even hate Orbee-kun now? I guess I should..._ "

"Hey." Celia called out, interrupting Nanami's thoughts. She and Ethel walked towards the two to inform them about an upcoming game. "Bad news is we're not playing Museum d'Alfonsino today."

"But," Ethel continued. "There is a few more space in the queue for Flounder Heights."

"Yeah, besides this **is** Nanami's **first** Turf War… right?" Celia faced Nanami.

"I guess…" Nanami said with slight disappointment.

"Whatever." Orbee muttered, once again straightening his 18K Aviators. Celia snickered a bit. Orbee glares at her and blushes. "C-come on. Let's just play."

"Good luck, Invisible Ink." Judd said, wishing the team good luck. The four walk into one of the green gates that read "Squad Turf Wars: Flounder Heights". The room was pretty small, consisting of a grated ceiling, a wall listing the slots of whoever will be matched up, another wall with their stats and vibe, and an ancient Wii U gamepad with the famous retro game _Squid Jump_ on it. Soft gentle music played in the room.

"So what are we doing in here?" Nanami asks.

"The matchmaking system picks two random teams waiting in a queue for one stage, or both stages." Celia explained. She points to the wall with eight slots. Four of these were filled with her team members, and the name "Invisible Ink" above their four slots. Beside their names were their levels. Orbee was Level 48, Celia was Level 41, Ethel was Level 31, and Nanami was only Level 1. Below their team was another group of four empty slots, only reading "Searching…".

"What if we lose?" Nanami asked quietly.

"Well…"

Before Ethel could finish, a sound of what seemed like glass tiles interrupted her. The once empty slots were filled with four medium-leveled players – being around Level 10 to 20. The team name listed was "Ika Inkers". The sound of wind chimes played and the room started to move sideways.

"What's going on? Why are we moving?" Nanami asked, seemingly a bit worried.

"We've been matched. It begins." Celia replied. After a while, the grated ceiling turned into a lime green shade as the floor moves upward.

"Get down." Celia whispered to Nanami as she assumed her squid form along with the others. Before Nanami could question her, she could already feel the grating pushing onto her mint green tentacle-covered head and quickly followed. Their semi-liquid squid bodies penetrated through the lime grating, which in turn changed all their ink colors into lime green. The only way to distinguish their natural ink colors was through their tentacles' tips, which where a darker shade of what they usually were. The only exception was Ethel, whose ink was already lime, and thus her tips stayed black. After all of them fully permeated the grating, the platform came to a stop, when suddenly a torrent of lime green ink falls upon the team. Nanami, whose yellow eyes stood out in the dark of the lime ink, seemed to cuddle herself up as if trying to protect herself from certain death.

"You're perfectly fine, Nanami." Celia whispered. "Just swim up." Nanami immediately followed. The four now-lime squids swam up the pit of ink until they reached…

…a spawn point.

When the lime green ink that blurred their vision faded, Nanami's eyes were once again filled with wonder just like when she first saw Inkopolis. As she stayed in her squid form, she saw two huge apartments, connected by a bridge, just off the "balcony" the spawn was situated on. The subtle sound of cheering from spectator inklings, squids, and jellyfish from directly outside the map and inside the apartments can be heard.

"Greetings everyone." Judd greeted, appearing on a huge monitor just westward from their spawnpoint. The spectators remained silent before Judd announced – "Welcome to Flounder Heights!"

The loud sound of a guitar echoed through the stage as the countless spectators cheered on. A camera, shaped like a flying squid, started to fly around the map and capture a great view of the map. Everything was captured on the jumbotron. The camera came to a rest on a purple spawn point, where four squids of that color were resting.

"Today's teams are… the Ika Inkers!" Upon Judd's announcement, the four squids shifted into their humanoid forms. The spectators started cheering. There were three boys, and just one girl. Despite their "not-so-fresh" levels and looks, the team seemed pretty strong themselves – it consisted of a Jet Squelcher, a Range Blaster, and two new weapons that only Ethel knew. One of them looked like a Slosher, and the other looked like a modified fire hydrant.

"What are those?" Celia whispered, making Ethel snicker a bit. She was fond of ancient memes – and this was her only knowledge of anything related to the ancients.

"I kinda forgot to mention… That's the Hydra Splatling and–"

"THE **HYDRA SPLATLING**!?" Celia shouted.

"yeah… it's out. You were always a fan of information leaks from the Booyah Base." Celia gave a wink in agreement to Ethel. "Anyway, the other is the Slosher Deco."

"Hmm… new weapons…" Celia turned her eyes to Nanami for a while.

"and… Invisible Ink!"

Judd's announcement was a cue that told them to shift into their humanoid froms. The four squids followed just like the Ika Inkers, only Nanami was a bit delayed considering her little knowledge of "Official Turf Wars". Cheering came again, louder than the Ika Inkers' cheering. Invisible Ink was a bit famous considering how stealthy they are. Extremely ambient questions arose from the crowd, though. Something like…  
"Who's that girl with the twintails?"  
"Where's Hanz?" or  
"That new kid looks really young…"

"Ready…"

A not-so-long silence came upon the map.

…

"GO!"

* * *

 **Chapter 6: My First Turf War**

* * *

Judd's signal got both teams off their spawn. The eight started inking the ground around them. In Invisible Ink's corner…

Orbee gave a short glare at Nanami that meant "REMEMBER THE RULES" before carrying on. Nanami remembered immediately, and started to ink more of the base before following a path that Orbee made to the top of the west tower. As Orbee used a Kelp Splatterscope, he wasn't able to ink much of the huge chasm in front of the buildings, but he was able to create the path for his team. The two girls swam up the path, and Orbee threw a sprinkler on the small villa in the middle to take control of the valley before following the two.

"Cool…" Nanami said to herself as she watched it ink the ground from the slanted path she was inking herself. "I wish I had that. All I have is…" Nanami took out an empty Splat Bomb. "this…" She filled it with her lime ink from the ink tank attached to her shoulder and ink sac. Wait, why did she have that? It must've been added when she changed her ink color through the grating. The squid from does hide the gear and weapon, or anything in possession. Nanami threw it at the tower, but it was so weak it fell off the tower before exploding.

"Look out!" Celia's voice called out, before she voiced a short scream.

Before Nanami could react, she felt a brief burning sensation in her entire body, before blacking out. She wasn't able to move for five seconds, but she could somehow see a blurry vision of her body being carried back to spawn. She saw the male Slosher Deco-wielding foe sloshing his ink bucket over the ground around the elevated wall he stood on. After that time passed, Nanami woke up next to Celia in the lime spawn point. She kinda figured it out even if Celia and Ethel had the same eye color, due to the gear she wore.

"What… happened?" she asked, a bit worried and confused.

"You got splatted." Celia replied. "Well, no worries. It isn't lethal at all. Besides, you could just Super Jump back into the front lines. Like this!" Celia shifted into a squid form and within a second, she went flying towards Ethel's position.

"Oh, right! Super Jumping!" Nanami tried it herself – she turned into a squid, pumped all the energy into her tentacles, and went flying shortly. "I've never tried it befoooooOOO **OOORE!** "

"Wait!" Celia called out. "Get back, Nanami! It's not safe here!" Celia warned Nanami, who was already jumping aiming towards Celia.

"T-TOO LATE FOR THAAAAAAAT!" Nanami responded, still in panic from the enormous speed. A split second before she landed, she saw Celia Super Jump towards Orbee's position. "Nee-sa–"

…Nanami got splatted again immediately after landing by the Range Blaster-wielding female from the Ika Inkers. At least, that was what she "saw" when getting carried back. Five seconds later she respawned again.

"Ok… no Super Jumping to crowded places." Nanami mumbled to herself as Ethel respawned.

"Enemies can see you Super Jump because it leaves a marker. Not for me, though." Ethel elaborated before jumping back to Celia, only taking much longer. Nanami continued inking a few spots their team missed in spawn, before following Orbee's path. When she traveled through the valley, she noticed that Orbee's sprinkler has disappeared and there were a few spots of purple ink on the blanket of lime ink. Nanami decided to abandon her path and swam towards the purple spots. While she swam through the shallow ground of ink, she was unaware of the ripples she made in the ink, and the Jet Squelcher-wielder who was hiding in one of the purple splurges of ink, noticed this and within a few seconds he came out of hiding and splatted Nanami (again) from afar thanks to the Jet Squelcher's huge range.

While she was being carried back she "saw" Ethel splatting that foe, only to be splatted by him herself at the same time.

"Ugh… again!?" she mumbled to herself again. She shuddered when she said that. "Whoa… so **this** is what being salty is like." The jumbotron showed a map of Flounder Heights and the Ika Inkers were taking a lead.

"One minute left!"

When Judd called that out, the crowd started getting extra hyped.

"A-already!?" before Nanami could complain any more, she noticed the Slosher Deco started to claim turf right outside their spawn. Ethel respawned again right behind her.

"Jump to Celia! I'll take care of this guy myself, Nana-chan!" she instructed.

"But Ethel-ne–"

"Go! She's inking **their** base!"

Nanami seemed to have no choice but to follow her. She still had vertigo from Super Jumping, and when she landed next to Celia, she could see that Celia was already taking down the team with her Inkzooka.

"Nanami! I-ink the base!" Celia shouted.

"Whose base?"

"Ugh, **their** base! We're in their base, right!?" When Celia finished planting the common sense into her sister's mind, a lime sprinkler seemed to land behind her.

" _Orbee-kun…?_ "

Suddenly a purple inkling, seemingly covered in so much lime ink, landed at his spawn to wash it off. Within a second after cleansing himself, he gave a somewhat eerie smile and shifted into a squid. Not just… any… squid…

" **KRAKEEEEEEEEEEEN!** "

"What? **Kraken**!?"

"Nanami! Retre–" Celia got cut short when the huge, dark purple squid jumped on her, slamming her and successfully splatted her in the process.

"Nee-san!" The kraken then noticed the frightened lime inkling, and charged at her. As a fear response, she attempted a Super Jump, and went flying just before getting slammed by the kraken. As she flew through the air, getting used to the vertigo, she saw the huge "squid" revert back into a humanoid.

When Nanami landed next to Orbee, she was immediately interrogated.

"Why jump to me!?" the infuriated male asked.

"Where should've I jumped, then!?"

"Spawn!"

"Quit arguing with the newbie." A masculine voce said, interrupting their short argument.

"Th-the… Hydra Splatling…" Nanami stuttered.

"Oh." The foe turned to Nanami. "So you've heard about it," he flicked her head. "newbie."

The Level 20 enemy started to spin the barrel of his splatling. "You are so de– OWW!"

A splat bomb hit him straight in the face, and he quickly swam away from it. He took a few damage, but still managed to get away a little unhurt. When it went off, Nanami's hair started to float and glow a bright mint green.

"What the Judd…?" she wondered in fear.

"That's nor–" Orbee was interrupted by a loud whistling sound. "Get back!"

Orbee took Nanami and got away from the Splat Bomb just in time, but fell off the tower in the process. Orbee shifted into a squid before landing in the lime ink at the bottom at the last second, while Nanami landed headfirst as a humanoid she would've cracked her neck if she had bones.

"G-good thing squids don't have bones…" Nanami mumbled to herself. "So I guess I won't get–"

Nanami was interrupted by the sound of the Hydra Splatling spinning in front of her face.

" **ORBEE-KUUUUUUUUUUN! HELP!** "

After Nanami's plea, a loud blaring guitar sound came, and visible sound waves appeared nearly killing the Hydra wielder, who fled again in a lucky escape. Nanami rushed over to Orbee's position.

"Click the light on your ink tank!" Orbee shouted in front of her face

"Wh-where… the li–"

"HURRY!" The Hydra Splatling spun its barrel one more time.

"10! 9!" The crowd started counting down.

"8! 7!"  
The Hydra shout out a spray of ink at the two…

"6! 5!"  
…

…covered in Bubblers.

"4! 3!"  
"It's a good thing these shields spread!" Nanami bragged. She fired one last spray of ink, with a more stable and improved aim, and…

"2!"  
"You… you just broke all my rules." Orbee muttered.

"Sorry…"

"1!"  
"It doesn't matter anymore." Orbee smiled at Nanami. "Neither does…"

*TWEEEEET*

"…that."

* * *

The stage was covered in aqua barriers that look like police lines, with the word "GAME!" written all over them.

"Come on, let's see how horrible we all went." Orbee laughed, as he Super Jumped one more time to their spawn, along with Nanami. The two met up with Celia and Ethel.

"Nanami!"  
"Nana-chan!"

The two relieved girls hugged Nanami.

"You were so awesome, Nanami!" Celia praised.

"N-not as awesome as you, nee-s-san…" Nanami responded, quite flattered. Orbee also started blushing.

"Come on, let's swim back down and see our loss."

The four swam down the lime spawn' this time the ink torrent led straight to the exit gates of the lobby. As they exited, their ink colors faded back to normal. Beside their gates were the Ika Inkers' gate, where they exited. They looked at a monitor showing a top-down view of Flounder Heights. It looked very messy, with spots of purple and lime ink scattered in every part of the stage. Judd, who was still in his room, tapped on his microphone to get both teams' attention.

"And the winner is…"

Judd does his usual dance, which weirded out Nanami a bit, before announcing the results of the match. A small bar at the bottom of his pedestal began filling up with purple and lime ink, and two pairs of numbers were listed, one on each side. The big white number consisted of a percentage, and a smaller black one consisting of how many ink was covered in total.

The winner is…

"Invisible Ink!"

Judd pointed a lime flag towards the right side, which was Invisible Ink's side. The meter stopped at 40.3% to 40.4% and 959p to 960p.

"We won!" Celia cheered, quite shocked.  
"I did not expect that." Orbee nonchalantly reacted.  
"GG, Ika Inkers!" Ethel said, walking towards them and congratulating them.  
Nanami gave a smile.

Upon looking at the leaderboards, Nanami saw that she had two splats, not just one.

" _It must've been the first splat bomb._ "

* * *

Back at the Plaza, Nanami sat alone at the bench on the southwest. Celia then came towards her, hiding something behind her back.

"Hey."

"Hey, nee-san."

"Splattershot Jr. a bit hard?"

"Not really, but…"

"Say no more." Celia took out a box with the Ammo Knights logo on it. "Open it."

Nanami took the cover off and in it was an Aerospray RG.

"…what's this?" Nanami asked.

"I figured it would be easier than the Jr., so… this is my RG… and I'm giving it to you."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Wow, 2870 words! I spent so much time on this, with the turf war portion all done today!

Woo, I'm beat.

Thank you BoyJav for the invitation into Shared Universe, what do I do now?

Sigh… I hope it wasn't horrible.

11/30 Edit: I JUST REALIZED THAT I USED CUE INSTEAD OF QUEUE. UGH. Thanks boredguy108 for the reminder!

SLSL~

\- o.O


	7. Some Things Have to be Rushed

" _This pink signature inked on the back of this golden weapon… Thank you, nee-san… I will do my best with this._ "

Nanami sat in her room, admiring the Aerospray RG she received from her sister earlier today. She continuously looked at its golden texture and the oh-so-familiar signature on its tank."

"Hey, Nanami." Celia said as she opened the door to Nanami's room. "Today was a long day… why are you still up?"

"I like this weapon." Nanami nonchalantly responded. She didn't even look away from her Aerospray. " _so shiny…_ "

Celia chuckled a bit at Nanami's attitude towards her weapon. "Oh, by the way, me and Orbee will be a bit busy tomorrow, so you're having a playdate with Ethel again! You cool with that, sis?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Nanami nodded in response and started to hug her weapon. "Oh… thanks again for this weapon, Celia-nee-san."

"Heh, you're welcome." Celia looked at Nanami with an intimate smile. "Well, good night, Nanami."

"Good night~"

Celia exited Nanami's room and entered hers. She laid down on the bed in her plain black shirt and shorts, and began to gather her thoughts.

" _Come to think of it… I've haven't even met Ethel's family yet. The only time she ever invited me to her house was when she was home alone…_ "

Celia started to theorize about Ethel's family. She wanted to know so much about the Swumpy family that she snuck out her oPhone and started to search it secretly…

The Swumpy family was a race of scientists. They experimented on many things about inkling anatomy.

"… _scientists?_ " Celia wondered. " _I thought Ethel hated science… she even joined me on Team Art last September… must be some family rebel._ "

As Celia read more she saw that the Swumpy's are still making anatomical breakthroughs, even today. That was when something caught her eye…

 **Early Humanoid Control**  
Achieved on 10/20/14111  
Researched by Soni Swumpy, aged 15

" _Soni Swumpy…?_ " Celia exclaimed inside her head. " _This was four years ago… So he's 19 today?_ "

Beside the information bit was a picture of a male light blue inkling posing with a female yellow inkling.

" _So whoever that is must be the first one to gain this ability early…_ _I thought it was just Nanami... I should question Ethel tomorrow after their playdate._ " She turns off her oPhone and falls back asleep.

Celia never even scrolled further down… The research was still incomplete, and she never even saw the girl's name…

* * *

"Bye, Celia-nee-san! Bye, Orbee-kun!" Nanami called out, waving at Celia and Orbee who were just about to leave her at Ethel's home. The couple, holding hands, slowly walked away.

"See ya, Nanami!" Orbee called.

"Hope Ethel takes care of you!" Celia called too. " _I_ _ **really**_ _hope she does…_ " Celia glared at Ethel, who was standing beside Nanami.

As Ethel shut the door, Nanami immediately grasped Ethel's arms and asked.

"What will we do now, Ethel-nee?"

"Well… uh…" Ethel started rubbing her own chin, thinking of what she should be doing with Nanami

" _I can't play Turf Wars with Nana-chan here at home… Plus I really hate facing Aerosprays…_ " A confused face appears on Ethel. Nanami just stared at her with a big grin, waiting for an answer. " _Maybe I should show Nana-chan to…_ " Ethel's eyes widen like a filling ink sac as an idea comes into her mind, but retracts them gain. " _No… we can't do that today._ " She gives a sigh and turns back to Nanami with a simple, casual response.

"How about we just play Squid Kart 8?"

"Ah~ Sure! I've never played this before, but I'll try!"

The two played Squid Kart 8 for a long time, and switched games to Squid Smash Bros. 4 and Ikámon XY as the time passed. Eventually, playing video games got boring and the two played Turf Wars in the house, completely disregarding Ethel's original idea. They turned to board games, drawing, and after two whole hours of various activities, they just simply started chatting.

"So, when is your birthday?" Ethel asked in the midst of their casual conversation.

"June 22! I can't wait to turn… eleven… next year..." Nanami gave a cheerful reply; the peppy smile on her face gradually fading away. She looked at her humanoid hands and clenched them, giving out a sigh. "Why did this happen so early…" she mumbled quietly, showing no clear emotions.

Ethel saw Nanami as she questioned her state. " _She can't know yet…_ " Ethel quickly thought, slightly panicked about this situation. " _I should change the topic quickly._ H-hey, don't worry about that now… uh… h-how about another Turf War here?"

"Sigh... Okay, Ethel-nee, but this is the last one." Nanami responded, picking up her Aerospray RG.

"Oh yeah, s-sure. Whatever you say, Nana-chan."

The two played a somewhat boring turf war in their home again, only intensifying whenever they encountered each other. At one point in the game, Ethel was chasing Nanami at an inkredible speed throughout the entire ground floor.

"OH I'M GONNA GET YA!" Ethel roared, tossing a disruptor at her target.

"N-no you won't!" Nanami finds a nearby drawer next to her path and slides into its tiny gap without opening it, and gets hit by Ethel's disruptor right before fully escaping.

"You can't hide, Nana-chan!" Ethel warned as she came to a stop. "Disruptors can show me where you're hiding!"

Back in the drawer, Nanami stayed as quiet as she could, slowly swimming to the back side of her hiding spot, being further hindered by the still effective disruptor. It's lucky for her that Ethel has poor reflexes and field of vision. Nanami however had good night vision. That made her notice something peculiar in the drawer – there was nothing even in it.

" _strange…_ " Nanami thought, looking at the not-so-dark empty insides of the excuse of a drawer. She started to back up some more, only to feel her squid fin drooping down, as if there was no floor at the very edge of the "drawer". This got her attention again, and when she tried to turn her entire body around to see it, her tentacle slipped and, with a loud scream that alerted Ethel, she fell into a deep pit, landing in a light blue pit of ink.

"Gotcha!" Ethel exclaimed as she tugs the drawer sharply, only to find nothing but a drop of mint green ink by the back edge…

* * *

"Thirty-eight minutes…" a male voice sounded as Nanami woke up in an artificial mint green spawn point.

"Please… it's too early to try it on her…" a somewhat familiar voice pleaded. Nanami's vision and hearing were still blurry and garbled. "Can't we wai–"

"Shush…" the male replied, moving closer to Nanami's slowly reforming squid body. "Some things… have to be rushed."

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Some Things Have to be Rushed**

* * *

"*pant*… *pant*… only **NOW** you disrupt her!?" the male, light blue inkling yelled at his… partner.

"My friend trusted me with her!" his partner, lime green with… Splash Goggles and… a Bobble Hat on her head, retorted. Muffled cries of help were heard a reasonable distance away from the two. The disruptor had prevented the captive from filling her ink tank, rendering her unable to attack. She couldn't move in the light blue ink she was trapped in. She tried to scream for help but no clear word was heard. The screams eventually began to annoy the male.

" **OKAY!** You can talk now! Just stop being so dramatic!" the infuriated male screeched, stripping the muffler off of Nanami's mouth. She panted heavily as she tried to catch her breath. "So." The male began. "Who are you."

"Seriously? You're asking **me** that?" Nanami retorted, infuriated with the mysterious inkling's question.

"Yeah, why didn't **you** introduce yourself first?" his partner continued.

"Wait…" Nanami turned to the lime green partner, a bit suspicious of her. "E…Ethel-nee…?" She pulls the "Splash Goggles" from the girl's face and plops it onto the "Bobble Hat" she dons on her head. It formed a Squid Nordic, perfectly matching her Zekko Hoodie and Crazy Arrows in a familiar sort of way. Without a doubt, that was Ethel. The two stayed silent as an awkward realization struck Nanami.

"L-look I swear. This guy had everything do to with thi–"

"And how is it **my** fault, exactly!?"

"Well, I know it's not **my** fault!"

"That doesn't mean it's not **her** fault!"

"K-keep me out of this!" Nanami interrupted the argument, throwing her Aerospray RG at the man.

"Ow!"

"N-Nana-chan…" Ethel muttered quietly. "You can trust this guy."

Nanami turned her attention to the light blue male. "So… who are you?"

"I…" the man paused, straightening his Golf Visor. "am Soni Swumpy." Nanami's eyes widened a bit, shocked hearing his surname.

"Ethel-nee… has a brother?" Ethel nodded lightly to Nanami.

"Aside from my sister here, the Swumpy's were one of the most well-known scientist generations throughout Inkopolitan and Calamarian history. You see, four years ago, I was the one who studied on the first case of what I named 'Early Humanoid Control Ability Mutation, or for short–" Soni was cut off by Nanami's cough. "…yeah. EHCAM." Soni said, imitating Nanami's cough to pronounce that acronym. "It's a really strange mutation and can happen any–"

"UUUUGGHHH." Ethel groaned, cutting off Soni again. "Get **on** with it, S'onii-chan!" Nanami started to giggle and hide her amusement.

"D-don't call me that, Ethel'sis!" Soni blushed as he countered Ethel. Now **she** started to blush. Nanami just kept snickering, covering her mouth with her hands. "J-just listen to me… uh, I never really caught your name…"

"Don't you call her 'Nana-chan'. That's **my** nickname for her." Ethel said.

"Well… I'm Nanami Avers…"

"Nanami, huh. Cute name."

"Hey! I sai–"

"Shh now, Ethel'sis. Listen, Nanami…" Soni walked over to the mint girl, still stuck in the pool of light blue ink. Soni walked over it completely unaffected. "Due to your condition, you need to increase your stamina."

"Wha…?" Nanami just stood there, confused by Soni's big words.

"You also have to undergo this crazy operation to confirm how you got this ability early."

Nanami just stared blankly at him.

"He means…" Ethel butted in. "We'll train you and open you up!"

"What!?" Nanami panicked. "Screw that I'm outta here!" Nanami tried to escape, but still found herself stuck in light blue ink.

"How about we just train her first?" Ethel whispered to Soni. Nanami continued to trudge slowly from the light blue ink. Ethel nonchalantly throws another disruptor on her, further reducing her speed.

"Sure…"

* * *

"48…  
"49…  
"50."

Nanami slowly morphed back into her humanoid form, panting heavily.

"See? Because of your early ability, you're completely exhausted from just **swimming** laps as a squid." Soni remarked after counting Nanami's laps around a tiny circuit of ink. "This is why you need to increase your stamina."

"Hah… hah… how do I i-increase it…?" Nanami questioned, still trying to catch her breath.

"Swim more laps."

"Wh…WHAT!? B-but… it's so… t…tiring…! A…and I ju…just s-swam fi…fifty la…ps… I ca–" Nanami was interrupted by a brief burning sensation, and again found herself splatted by Soni's Sloshing Machine.

"What was that for!?" Ethel yelled at Soni. "Why'd you have to–"

"shh." He put his finger on the lip of Ethel's mouth. "Just wait. 3…2…1…" Nanami again respawned in Soni's artificial spawnpoint.

"Déjà vu…" Ethel mumbled under her breath.

"Splatting someone partially refills their energy."

"Hwaa~" Nanami sighed, feeling completely exhilarated as she hopped out of the spawnpoint. "Let's do this~!"

It was a long day of training for Nanami. She swam hundreds of laps, slipped through tens of grates, and dodged thousands of bullets. She was splatted by Soni, feeling energetic every time she respawned. Within a few hours, Nanami's low stamina, a result of her mutation, grew gradually during the training. She seems completely ready for Turf Wars, and to an extent – Ranked Battles.

"Now that you're done training…" Soni remarked, taking a box from a nearby shelf. "I'm afraid I have to open you up now…" Nanami just stayed quiet and nervous, twiddling her two thumbs together–

"Nana-chan! Think fast!" Ethel called out, throwing a net of light blue color towards her. Nanami quickly reacted and turned into a squid that penetrated through the light blue net.

"Nice. You've got quick reflexes. Unlike… some people." Soni glanced at Ethel. She just pouted.

Nanami shifted back into her humanoid from, finding herself colored light blue, with her tentacles' tips shaded green, just like in a Turf War.

"When I did this to the first patient…" Soni began. "she refused to come back ever again, afraid that I would force her into the operation."

"But it's ok…" Nanami finally spoke. "It's for… someone on my team."

"Who? Your sister?"

"No…"

"Ethel'sis?"

"No."

"That noob, Hanz?"

"NO!" Nanami suddenly screamed. She sighed to calm herself down. "For… Orbee-kun."

"Orbee...?" Soni rubbed his chin.

"Yeah… Orbee Gaws."

"Gaws…" Soni started to remember some things he knew about the man, more specifically, his sister. "I see… Don't worry, the operation wouldn't hurt if we're the same ink color."

"Ok…"

The day was long yet again as Soni started to operate on Nanami. Just like what he said, she felt nothing but a few tickles as Soni prodded her brain. Ethel just covered her eyes, not being a fan of uncensored surgery…

"Research is now complete…"

* * *

The doorbell rang quietly, alerting the mint green girl after recovering from her operation. Slowly yet excitedly, she walked over to the door, while Ethel and Soni were dozing off. Nanami opened the door and found the couple picking her up.

"Nanami! You're okay!" Celia let go of Orbee's hand and hugged Nanami tightly. Her face never even moved a bit. This bothered Celia.

"I'm fine… Celia-nee-san…" Nanami nonchalantly said as she slowly hugged her sister back. "I just… want to thank you…"

"Hm?" Celia pulled herself back a bit. "What for?"

"Not for the Aerospray RG… for your love and care for me… without you, I never would've gone this far…" She proceeded to hug Celia tighter, starting to cry tears of joy.

" _Sisters…_ "

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Ugh, this was a tough chapter. This chapter was rushed too. Get it? *laughs*

Well, I've nothing to say for now aside from:

MAHI-MAHI RESORT IS COMING!

Oh, and SLSL~

\- o.O


End file.
